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Madonna

CBS threatens ABC over copyright issue

LOS ANGELES - CBS is warning rival network ABC that an upcoming reality series copies "Big Brother" too closely and violates copyrights and other agreements with former staffers.

Attorneys for CBS sent a letter warning of consequences if ABC continues to develop "The Glass House." The show focuses on contestants who are constantly filmed and eliminated from a home they share.

The letter notes the format is substantially similar to "Big Brother," which has aired on CBS since 2000.

The letter obtained by The Associated Press and other news outlets states that 18 former "Big Brother" staffers and executives are now working on "Glass House." CBS says that may violate nondisclosure agreements they signed.

ABC had no comment on CBS' allegations.

CBS' warning to ABC was first reported Friday by The Hollywood Reporter.

Madonna sings praises of Yauch

NEW YORK - Madonna says Adam Yauch, the Beastie Boys rapper who died Friday, was one of a kind and that the group was important to her musical history.

The singer says the seminal hip-hop group was "integral to the musical revolution that was happening at the time."

Yauch's representatives confirmed that the rapper, also known as MCA, died Friday morning in New York after a nearly three-year battle with cancer.

Madonna says she was sad to hear of Yauch's death and asked God to bless his family.

The Beastie Boys opened for Madonna on tour in the 1980s, and the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month.

Stiller and Vaughn movie gets renamed

LOS ANGELES - "Neighborhood Watch" will now be known as just "The Watch."

Fox said Friday that the name of the film starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn as suburban neighborhood watch volunteers who uncover an extraterrestrial plot was changed in light of the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Florida.

"As the subject matter of this alien invasion comedy bears no relation whatsoever to the recent tragic events in Florida, the studio altered the title to avoid any accidental or unintended misimpression that it might," the studio said in a statement.

Fox previously pulled early promotional materials for the movie because of the Trayvon Martin case.

The unarmed, 17-year-old Martin was fatally shot in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, causing a national controversy.

Cee Lo Green to stick with 'Voice'

The rapper turned singer joined the show last year as coach and judge alongside Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine.

Green, 37, said in an interview this week that he believes NBC has plans in place should any of the judges decide to leave. But for now he's happy to continue "building the brand of Cee Lo Green" on the popular TV series, which ends its second season next week.

Aguilera's appearance on Levine's Maroon 5 hit "Moves Like Jagger" has led to further collaboration among the singers. Green said he'd be open to a supergroup featuring all four: "Why not? ? Everybody's talented. Everybody's available and highly enthusiastic."

'The Fox Mole' gets deal for a memoir

NEW YORK - The "Fox Mole" has a book deal.

Joe Muto is a former Fox News associate producer who was fired last month after writing a few anonymous pieces for the news blog Gawker.

Muto has an agreement with Dutton for a memoir coming out in early 2013.

The imprint of Penguin Group (USA) announced Friday that the book will be called "An Atheist in the Foxhole."

Muto worked at Fox for eight years, most recently on Bill O'Reilly's show.

He has described himself as a liberal suffering amid conservative co-workers.

His first Gawker post included video of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney chatting with Sean Hannity.

He criticized a Fox website as "an unholy mashup of the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post and a Klan meeting."

The network has said it's exploring legal recourse against him.

- The Associated Press

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Personalities

CBS is warning rival network ABC that an upcoming reality series copies 'Big Brother' too closely and violates copyrights and other agreements with former staffers. Attorneys for CBS sent a letter